The research began in 1995 in cooperation with the University Paris-X Nanterre and it was funded by French Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Missions archéologiques à l’étranger) and the Ministry of Culture of Croatia.
The first research cycle lasted until 2000 and it included work on the three-aisled basilica, until then considered to be a Byzantine church, and the chapel at the south-western corner of the monastery. The research continued in 2002 in cooperation with the Museum of Croatian Archaeological Monuments from Split and it included a successive examination of the external parameters of the monastery complex from the eastern side toward the south.
According to findings collected up to date, the monastery complex consists of a large three-aisled basilica with a cloister and other monastery areas that were later added on the south side and the graveyard which most likely stood on the north side of the complex. The findings place the church at the end of the 8th century, while the southwest chapel is dated to the pre-Romanesque period. Both the church and the chapel were radically transformed in the 11th century. A bell tower was attached to the front of the chapel, and the interior was painted (fragments of paintings were documented in the apse). The basilica was shortened for one intercolumnium and got a new narthex, while a bell-tower was built at the southwest corner of the church. At the same time, the presbytery was extended to the third pair of columns and it occupied more than half of the church. In the 17th century, the church was a ruin, so in the 18th century, a new church was built, covering the central nave of the early medieval one.
The findings of the conducted research, more than 150 fragments of liturgical installations and architectural plastic, are stored in the crypt of the parish church in Bale which serves as a lapidarium. The most famous findings are all of the 12 original early medieval capitals, from the stone masonry workshop defined as the workshop of the “Master of the Bale capitals”.
Publications:
(Click to open link to the publications)
Caillet, J.P., Jurković, M., Matejčić, I., Le complexe paléochrétien et haut médiéval de Velika Gospa près de Bale (Istrie): première campagne de fouilles, Hortus Artium Medievalium, 2 (1996), 133-136.
Caillet, J.P., Jurković, M., Matejčić, I., Le complexe paléochrétien et haut-médiéval de Velika Gospa (Croatie): résultats de la premiere campagne de fouilles, Bulletin de l’Association pour l’Antiquité tardive, 5 (1996), 57-59.
Jurković, M., Caillet, J.P., Matejčić, I., L’église Santa Maria Alta pres de Bale (Istrie): campagne de fouille 1996., Hortus Artium Medievalium, 3 (1997), 225-232.
Jurković, M., Caillet, J.P., Matejčić, I., Deuxieme campagne de fouille sur le site de Velika Gospa pres de Bale (Croatie), Bulletin de l’association pour l’antiquité tardive, 6 (1997), 28-32.
Matejčić, I., Jurković, M., Caillet, J.P., Velika Gospa pres de Bale (Istrie): campagne de fouille de 1997, Hortus Artium Medievalium, 4 (1998), 189-198.
Caillet, J.P., Jurković, M., Chevalier, P., Matejčić, I., Velika Gospa (Istrie): troisieme campagne de fouilles, Bulletin de l’association pour l’antiquité tardive, 7 (1998), 44-51.
Caillet, J.P., Jurković, M., Chevalier, P., Matejčić, I., Velika Gospa pres de Bale (Istrie): quatrieme campagne de fouille (1998), Hortus Artium Medievalium, 5 (1999); 219-228.
Jurković, M., Matejčić, I., Chevalier, P., Caillet, J.P., Velika Gospa (Istrie): quatrieme campagne de fouilles, Bulletin de l’Association pour l’Antiquite Tardive, 8 (1999), 32-38.
Jurković, M., Le complexe monastique de S. Maria Alta près de Bale en Istrie (Croatie), u: Comptes rendus des séances de l’Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, Paris, 1999
Chevalier, P., Matejčić, I., Caillet, J.P., Jurković, M., Sveta Marija Velika pres de Bale (Istrie): cinquieme campagne de fouilles, Hortus Artium Medievalium, 6 (2000), 183-189.
Hrvati i Karolinzi. Katalog (ur. Milošević, A.), Split, 2000
Hrvati i Karolinzi. Rasprave i vrela (ur. Milošević, A.), Split, 2000
Jurković, M., Matejčić, I., Chevalier, P., Caillet, J.P., Velika Gospa (Istrie): cinquieme campagne de fouilles, Bulletin de l’Association pour l’Antiquité Tardive, 9 (2000), 32-37.
Jurković, M., Le „Maître de chapiteaux de Bale“, Hortus Artium Medievalium, 8 (2002), 349 – 360.
Matejčić, I., Jurković, M., Lapidarij u Balama, Muzej hrvatskih arheoloških spomenika, Split, Bale, 2002.
Jurković, M., Les chapiteaux de Sveta Marija Velika pres de Bale (Istrie) ; la tradition de l’Antiquite Tardive a l’epoque carolingienne, Studiola in honorem Noel Duval – Melanges d’Antiquite Tardive, Brepols Publishers, Turnhout, 2004.
Jurković, M., Marić, I., Lokalitet: Bale – benediktinski samostan i crkva sv. Marije Velike, Hrvatski arheološki godišnjak, 2/2005 (2006), 240-243.
Jurković, M., Milošević, A., Marić, I., Lokalitet: Bale – benediktinski samostan i crkva sv. Marije Velike, Hrvatski arheološki godišnjak, 3/2006 (2007), 223-225.
Jurković, M., Caillet, J.P. (ed.), Velika Gospa près de Bale (Istrie) I. L’église Velika Gospa pres de Bale. Vol. I, Zagreb – Motovun, 2007
Jurković, M., Milošević, A., Basić, I., Bale – benediktinski samostan i crkva sv. Marije Velike, Hrvatski arheološki godišnjak, 4/2007 (2008), 241-243.
Jurković, M., Milošević, A., Basić, I., Bale, benediktinski samostan – rezultati dosadašnjih istraživanja, I. Porečki susret arheologa – Rezultati arheoloških istraživanja na području Istre (ur. Jurković, M.), 2008, 137-150.
Jurković, M., Caillet, J.P. (ed.), Velika Gospa près de Bale (Istrie) II. L’église Velika Gospa pres de Bale. Vol. II, Zagreb – Motovun, 2009
Jurković, M., Matejčić, I., Basić, I., „Barokizacijaˮ crkve sv. Marije Velike kod Bala – primjer poštivanja ranosrednjovjekovnih starina u 18. stoljeću, u: Sic Ars Deprenditur arte, Zbornik u čast Vladimira Markovića, (ur.: S. Cvetnić, M. Pelc, D. Premerl), Zagreb, 2009: 303 – 317.
Jurković, M., Basić, I., Élites ecclesiastiche e renovatio: tradizioni tardoantiche nell’arte di VIII e IX secolo in Istria, Ideologia e cultura artistica tra Adriatico e Mediterraneo orientale (IV-X secolo). Il ruolo dell’autorità ecclesiastica alla luce di nuovi scavi e ricerche (ed. R. Farioli Campanati, C. Rizzardi, P. Porta, A. Augenti, I. Baldini Lippolis), Bologna: Ante Quem, 2009, 289-302.
Jurković, M., Le maitre d’œuvre au haut Moyen Age: l’exemple du „Maitre des chapiteaux de Bale“, in: Le plaisir de l’art du Moyen Age. Commande, production et réception de l’œuvre d’art. Mélanges en hommage à Xavier Barral i Altet, Paris, 2012: 494 – 500.
Jurković, M., Milošević, A., Lokalitet: Bale – benediktinski samostan i crkva sv. Marije Velike, Hrvatski arheološki godišnjak, 9/2012 (2013), 421-423.
Jurković, M., Milošević, A., Kranjec, I., Bale – Sv. Marija Velika, benediktinski samostan, Hrvatski arheološki godišnjak, 12/2015 (2016), 371-373.
Jurković, M., Istria under the Carolingian Rule, Migration, Integration and Connectivity on the Southeastern Frontier of the Carolingian Empire (Eds. Džino, D., Milošević, A., Vedriš, T.), Brill: Leiden/Boston, 2018
